Involuntary Resettlement

Report by the World Bank Inspection Panel. The report, which analyzed 22 years of complaints to the Inspection Panel by communities alleging they were harmed by bank projects, found that more than two thirds of the grievances investigated by the panel involved resettlement. In most of these cases, the World Bank underestimated the risks caused by displacement, the panel found. The report praised the bank for clarifying and improving its resettlement policies in response to Inspection Panel findings.

The report also reaches four conclusions: First, the frequency of resettlement complaints in the Panel’s caseload con­firms that it is one of the most challenging aspects of development. Second, the Bank’s ultimate policy goal of conceiving and executing resettlements as sustainable development programs has not been achieved in many of the cases investigated by the Panel. Third, better analysis of the full economics of resettlement is needed and, finally, Panel cases have positively influenced Bank practices on involuntary resettlement.